THE STUPID FOOL – What They Tell Themselves, part three
Psalm 14:1-4
Great Commission Church
In Proverbs, there are three kinds of fools: the insensitive fool (dull); the stubborn fool (disrespectful); the stupid fool (wicked)
Psalm 14:1 To the Chief Musician. A Psalm of David. The fool has said in his heart, “There is no God.” They are corrupt, they have done abominable works, there is none who does good.
Psalm 14:2 The LORD looks down from heaven upon the children of men, to see if there are any who understand, who seek God.
Psalm 14:3 They have all turned aside, they have together become corrupt; there is none who does good, no, not one.
Psalm 14:4 Have all the workers of iniquity no knowledge, who eat up my people as they eat bread, and do not call on the LORD?
(1) He is morally bankrupt.
“They are corrupt, they have done abominable works, there is none who does good” (v.1b)
Exodus 8:22 And in that day I will set apart the land of Goshen, in which My people dwell, that no swarms of flies shall be there, in order that you may know that I am the LORD in the midst of the land.
Exodus 8:23 I will make a difference between My people and your people. Tomorrow this sign shall be.
Exodus 8:24 And the LORD did so. Thick swarms of flies came into the house of Pharaoh, into his servants’ houses, and into all the land of Egypt. The land was corrupted because of the swarms of flies.
One of those abominable works is cursing God Himself.
iIlus: On the worst day anyone ever had in the Bible, Job lost everything he valued in the world except his wife (children, prosperity, health)…
Job 2:9 Then his wife said to him, “Do you still hold fast to your integrity? Curse God and die!”
Job 2:10 But he said to her, “You speak as one of the foolish women speaks. Shall we indeed accept good from God, and shall we not accept adversity?” In all this Job did not sin with his lips.
What makes Job’s wife a stupid fool?
Three attitudes:
1. despising integrity (“Do you still hold fast to your integrity?”)
respectability; reputation; character; blamelessness – “What good is your personal holiness now?”
Proverbs 11:3 The integrity of the upright will guide them, but the perversity of the unfaithful will destroy them.
2. reviling God (“Curse God and die!”)
When Job needed comfort from her, he received another terrible blow—evidence of her bitterness toward God.
She demanded “suicide by blasphemy.” Stupid fools resent the faith of believers and want them to deconstruct.
3. preferring death to perseverance (“Shall we accept good from God, and shall we not accept adversity?”)
“adversity” = evil, wickedness, calamity
2 Cor 4:8 We are hard-pressed on every side, yet not crushed; we are perplexed, but not in despair;
2 Cor 4:9 persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed—
2 Cor 4:10 always carrying about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body.
2 Cor 4:11 For we who live are always delivered to death for Jesus’ sake, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh.
Trusting God = holding on to your integrity in the face of severe suffering without blaming God or accusing Him of evil.
What does it mean for the stupid fool to be morally bankrupt?
He does not understand what life is about.
“to see if there are any who understand” (v.2a)
This explains how he/she can dismiss God altogether.
illus: story of David, Nabal & Abigail…There are not many love triangles in the Bible, but the one we know the most about is quite the story…
1 Sam 25:25 Please, let not my lord regard this scoundrel Nabal. For as his name is, so is he: Nabal is his name, and folly is with him! But I, your maidservant, did not see the young men of my lord whom you sent.
His life is not going anywhere.
“to see if there are any…who seek God.” (v.2b)
God indeed has a plan for your life. But stupid fools have no plan, nor do they want one. “Hey man, take it easy!”
He perishes with the crowd.
“They have all turned aside, they have together become corrupt” (v.3)
Like misery, corruption also loves company!
Corrupt here is a different term meaning “sour” or “spoiled.”
He refuses to worship God.
Have all the workers of iniquity no knowledge, who eat up my people as they eat bread, and do not call on the LORD? (v.4)
Worship = “call on the LORD.”
Matt 7:22 Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’
Matt 7:23 And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’
Application:
Isaiah 55:6 Seek the LORD while He may be found, call upon Him while He is near.
Isaiah 55:7 Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; let him return to the LORD, and He will have mercy on him; and to our God, for He will abundantly pardon.
